FIRST (SCOTS)

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

THE REV. DR. L. HOLTON SIEGLING, JR.

Greetings, First (Scots) Presbyterian Church!

It is with a humble and grateful heart that I come before you today. From my first

conversations with the PNC until now, I have been most confident of God's presence in our

midst. Please know that while I am personally excited about celebrating the numerous ways by

which the rich legacy of First (Scots) is enlivened today, it is also the case that my entire family

eagerly awaits the opportunity to join with you in ministry and for First (Scots) to become our

church home. The rare privilege and awesome responsibility of serving as your Pastor is not

lost on me, nor is the joy of the richness of God's grace which is altogether sufficient. As the

way becomes increasingly clear for me to serve with you, please know that I embark upon this

call with humility and kindness, energy and great joy.

Until I speak with you again, take care and God bless,

Holton

Harrison (17), Martha Ann, Will (12), Holton, Mary Caroline (6)

HOLTON’S FAMILY

Holton was born in Orangeburg, SC on July 15, 1971 and grew up in Charleston, SC. He met his wife Martha Ann at a Presbyterian Student Beach Retreat.

Harrison is a 17 year old Junior at West High School in Knoxville. As a member of the track team, he enjoys throwing the discus and shot put. He is also an avid Ultimate Frisbee player. He recently served as a member of Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church's Youth Director Search Committee. He would like to attend Clemson University.

Will is a 6th grader at West Valley Middle School. He plays the piano and clarinet and enjoys spending time with friends and family. He is 12 years old and loves movies. He is also learning to play tennis and is currently taking art and golf lessons.

Mary Caroline is a 6 year old bundle of energy that doesn't quit. Much of her kindergarten year has been spent learning and smiling and playing. She can usually be found either at the pool or on the trampoline. She is a proud member of the children's choir.

While Martha Ann manages the Siegling family very well, she is also currently managing a friend's small clothing business while the kids are in school. She also enjoys subbing at local preschools from time to time. She heads up the baby meal ministry at church and serves in a variety of other ways in the community. She loves to walk and read and cherishes her occasional girls' night out!

Education: Clemson University, Clemson, SC Bachelor of Arts,

English, 1995

Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, Master of Divinity, 1998

Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA, Doctor of Ministry, 2007

Ecclesiastical Status: PC(USA) Presbyterian Minister of the Word and

Sacrament Ordination Date: March 21, 1999

Work Experience: Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church,

Knoxville, TN Minister (Head of Staff), 2011-Present

First Presbyterian Church of Fernandina Beach, Fernandina Beach, FL Minister (Head of Staff), 2007– 2011

The Marion Presbyterian Church, Marion, SC Pastor, 2002- 2007

First Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg, Spartanburg, SC Associate Pastor (Youth and Families), 1998-2002

Services to PC(USA): Presbytery of East Tennessee: Committee on Ministry Chair, Examinations Sub-Committee PC(USA) Ordination Exam Reader

St. Augustine Presbytery:

Pastor Nominating Committee Liaison Committee on Ministry

New Harmony Presbytery: Examination Panel

Committee on Preparation for Ministry Mission Committee

Community Service: Maryville College Board of Church Visitors Barnabas Center, Board of Directors

Serves the Fernandina Beach community by providing clothes, food, household goods, medical/dental care to those in crisis.

Rotary Club, Past President of Marion Rotary Club

Marion County Habitat for Humanity, Board Member

HOLTON’S BACKGROUND

I was blessed to be brought up in a Christian home

where faith was not simply a matter of attending church

on Sunday morning, but was also a vital part of

everyday life. Knowing from an early age that I would

serve God in whatever vocational capacity I found

myself, I received a more specific sense of call while

celebrating the Lord’s Supper at a Montreat Youth

Conference as a sophomore in high school. It was at

that moment when I felt the Spirit of God move within

me to affirm that some area of Christian

ministry would be my calling. In the

years that followed, I continued to be

actively involved in the local and greater

church in numerous ways.

Spending my freshman year

at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, I

attended the 203rd General Assembly

of the PC(USA), where I served as the

co-moderator of the Youth Advisory

Delegates (YADS). After transferring

to Clemson University, and while

participating in a Presbyterian Student

Association Beach Retreat, I met my wife

Martha Ann. I thought Martha Ann was

pretty amazing when, having been paired with her for

kitchen duty, she fulfilled our joint responsibilities

before I could even report for duty. As it turned out,

Martha Ann simply didn’t want to get stuck in the

kitchen with me because I was so intense and physically

active. With tongue in cheek, I like to say, “Now, that’s

divine intervention!”

One week after graduation from college, Martha Ann

and I were married. The following week we moved to

New Jersey where I began my studies at Princeton

Theological Seminary (PTS). I put my high energy to

good use by serving as the Athletic Director,

coordinating the intramural sports program. I fulfilled

two internships: one at the Flemington Presbyterian

Church and the other at the Presbyterian Church at

Westfield. I also fulfilled my Clinical Pastoral

Education at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital,

located in Philadelphia.

Upon graduation from PTS, I was called to serve as

the Associate Pastor for Youth and Their Families at

First Presbyterian Church in Spartanburg, South

Carolina. In the years that followed, I was called to

several other pastorates, namely: Marion Presbyterian

Church (Marion, South Carolina), First Presbyterian

Church (Fernandina Beach, Florida), and, most recently,

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church (Knoxville,

Tennessee).

I am grateful and increasingly humbled to have

discerned with the members of the Pastor Nominating

Committee of First (Scots) Presbyterian Church this

new call to serve. Given my shared history with and

abiding love for the people of Charleston, my familiarity

with the ecclesiology of the Lowcountry, and the sense

of love for First (Scots) as well as the clarity of purpose

which was so evident on the part of the PNC, it was not

surprising to find that a sense of joy filled my heart to

overflowing as together we perceived

that to unite in ministry would not only

be a mutual blessing, but that it would

also be a most faithful response to God’s

work in our midst.

My life as a pastor has been rich and

full. In 2007 I earned the Doctor of

Ministry Degree from Columbia

Theological Seminary in Decatur,

Georgia. My continuing education has

come in a variety of forms, including

Presbytery sponsored events, Stephen

Ministry training, conferences offered

through Princeton Seminary, Youth

Specialties and the Festival of Homiletics,

as well as three Pulpit Exchanges with sister churches in

Scotland. Over the years, I have also enjoyed leading

continuing education events, though most of the time I

prefer the role of student. My most recent service to the

greater church has been with the Committee on

Ministry, though I have also enjoyed my past work as a

member of the Committee for Preparation for Ministry

and as an Ordination Exam reader. My involvement in

the community has included serving on such local

boards as Habitat for Humanity and the Barnabas

Center. Enjoying my work as a Rotarian, I am a Past

President and Paul Harris Fellow.

Martha Ann and I have three children: Harrison,

Will, and Mary Caroline. It was my distinct pleasure to

preside at the Baptism of all three of our children. In my

spare time I can be found spending time with my family.

I am an avid runner and participate in some rather crazy

“off-brand” types of races from time to time. I am hydro

and solar powered and am happiest when I am both on

the water and in the sun! Some of my great pastoral joys

include recognizing and celebrating the blessings of

God, walking alongside people in their Christian

journey, studying God’s Word while preaching it with

gusto, and maximizing people’s gifts for Christ’s service.

SPIRITUAL JOURNEY By The Rev. Dr. Lanneau Holton Siegling, Jr.

STATEMENT OF FAITH The Rev. Dr. L. Holton Siegling, Jr.

It is altogether humbling to contemplate the fact

that God is sovereign. It is certainly not within our

power to create the world out of nothing, nor are we

either the author of salvation or the divine giver of

grace; nevertheless, we can, by God’s grace, be a part

of God’s ongoing and redemptive work (cf. Acts 14:8-

18).

To help us better understand how God’s

redemptive love has been and continues to be at work

in the life of the world and within the hearts of God’s

people, we need look no further than the testimony of

the Scriptures, which, by the inward witness of the

Holy Spirit, prove as essential to our spiritual bodies as

bread is to our physical bodies (cf. Mt. 4:4).

I believe that the Bible is the only rule by which we

can know how to live and how to love as God’s people

(cf. II Tim. 3:16). The Bible speaks not only of the

dawn of creation but also about the consummation of

God’s story of salvation. The Bible conveys the very

narrative of grace through which the stories of our

lives finally make sense.

It is from within the context of God’s story of

salvation that we behold the ultimate revelation of

God’s love in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who

was with God in the beginning - who is God - who is

the way, the truth, and the life (cf. Jn. 14:6). I believe

that Jesus lived, died, and rose again so that, by

believing in him, I will share in that eternal victory (cf.

Jn. 3:16)! I also believe that Jesus ascended into

heaven and that he will come again.

I believe that the church is called to be the

visible expression of what God intends for the world

(cf. F-1.0301). I also affirm certain identifying marks

of the church, some of which are: the preaching of

God’s Word, the celebration of the sacraments and a

measure of ecclesiastical discipline (cf. 3.18).

I recognize that the sacraments are received by way

of dominical authority. In other words, Jesus tells us

in the Bible that we are to be about “baptizing [the

disciples/nations]” (cf. Mt. 28:19) and that we are to

“do” the Lord’s Supper “in remembrance of me” (cf. Lk.

22:19); indeed, the sacraments of Baptism and the

Lord’s Supper express for us in tangible ways the

redemptive work of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, and

it is through them that we more fully live into our

identity as the people of God.

For this I give God thanks and praise, that I am

known first and foremost as a child of God. I rest

confidently in the knowledge that I am chosen and

beloved. Moreover, I realize that I am called not to

privilege, but to responsibility (cf. S. Guthrie). The

concept of Christian responsibility is a vital part of the

historic mission of the PC(USA), and it is with a

grateful heart that I live my life within this

communion and in joyful response for what God has

done for us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Praise be to God that he continues to be at work in

the church and in the lives of her people.

Given our propensity to sin and fall short of the glory

of God, it is good to know that God will never

abandon us and that we have an advocate in the Holy

Spirit who directs us in the process of sanctification (cf.

Jn. 14:26).

Such an awareness of God’s grace as well as our

own depravity is reflected in our church’s polity, for it

continually testifies to the benefit of people

coming together to discern God’s will and the role of

the Holy Spirit in the midst of that discernment.

The fact that we come together, however, does not

necessarily mean that the church called forth is

somehow perfect, but it does mean that we trust in

God’s redemptive work through the Body of Christ, of

which Christ is undoubtedly the Head. I celebrate that

in our greatest joys and deepest sorrows as well as in

our good and bad choices, God is ever-faithful,

weaving our individual lives and the collective life of

the church into a grander pattern of purpose than we

can presently discern.

The Pastor Nominating Committee is very excited to nominate as our new Senior Minister and

Head of Staff, Dr. L. Holton Siegling, Jr., whom we have discerned God has called to lead

First (Scots) Presbyterian Church into the future.

Callie (Campbell) Stratos, Harold Davis, Charlotte Gillespie, Steve Harth, Bonnie Hutson,

Greg Jones, Elizabeth Ouzts, Saye Simpson, and Mark Zuraw.